Becoming Mature
"We do, however, speak a message of wisdom among the
mature, but not the wisdom of this age or of the rulers of
this age, who are coming to nothing." - 1 Corinthians 2:6
Roy Robertson was a soldier at Pearl Harbor in 1941: "My
ship, the West Virginia, docked at Pearl Harbor on the
evening of December 6, 1941. A couple of the fellows and I
left the ship that night and attended a Bible study. About
fifteen sailors sat in a circle on the floor. The leader
asked us to each recite our favorite Scripture verse. In
turn each sailor shared a verse and briefly commented on it.
I sat there in terror. I couldn't recall a single verse. I grew up in a Christian home, went to church three times a week, but I sat there terrified. I couldn't recall a single verse. Finally, I remembered one verse - John 3:16. I silently rehearsed it in my mind. The spotlight of attention grew closer as each sailor took his turn. It was up to the fellow next to me. He recited John 3:16. He took my verse! As he commented on it I sat there in stunned humiliation. In a few moments everyone would know that I could not recall from memory even a single verse. Later that night I went to bed thinking, 'Robertson, you're a fake.'
At 7:55 the next morning I was awakened by the ship alarm ordering us to battle stations. 360 planes of the Japanese Imperial Fleet were attacking our ship and the other military installations. My crew and I raced to our machine gun emplacement, but all we had was practice ammunition. So for the first fifteen minutes of the two-hour battle, we only fired blanks hoping to scare the Japanese airplanes.
As I stood there firing fake ammunition I thought,
'Robertson, this is how your whole life has been - firing
blanks for Christ.' I made up my mind as Japanese bullets
slammed into our ship, "If I escape with my life, I will get
serious about following Jesus." Roy Robertson did get
serious. He became the first missionary of "The Navigators"
and did a lot of work with Billy Graham as well.
Are you growing mature in the Lord or are you firing blanks
for Christ? Today in prayer, examine your walk with the Lord
and seek to grow deeper in maturity with Him.
"Four stages of growth in Christian maturity: Love of self
for self's sake. Love of God for self's sake. Love of God
for God's sake. Love of self for God's sake." - Bernard of
Clairvaux
God's Word: "Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will in
all things grow up into him who is the Head, that is,
Christ." - Ephesians 4:15
By Peter Kennedy, Copyright 2003, Devotional E-Mail
DEVOTIONS IN 1 CORINTHIANS
pkennedy@devotional.com